The Party Scene at Illinois

It is no secret that Illinois is considered one of the top party schools in the nation, whether it’s a bar crawl, a night at Kam’s, pregame at a fraternity, an apartment party, or even a sunny Saturday spent eating and drinking at Joe’s, the University of Illinois has it all.

Greek life is a huge factor when it comes to house parties at Illinois. James Kumpin, a student majoring in international business, is pledging a fraternity on campus and explained how parties get planned and who is allowed to come.

“Our social chair discusses with other sorority social chairs and plans pre-games or parties almost every night of the week,” Kumpin said. “For girls, its a lot easier to get into these parties but guys from other fraternities usually aren’t allowed into them.”

Kenneth Lambert, a student pledging a fraternity and majoring in mechanical engineering shared the types of parties there are, and how they typically go down.“Usually every week there are date parties that are either formal or themed. Everyone gets dressed up really fancy and we go to the house and throw a big party,” Lambert said.

Free alcohol is lined up for girls who attend so they can drink with no cost.

“It’s a part of our fraternity dues to pay for alcohol for pre-games and parties, and when its almost every day of the week, it for sure adds up,” Kumpin said.

In a survey of ten random students, they were asked how often they go out during the week and seven of them said they go out four times a week on average.

“This school is known for having the most ‘lit’ weekdays,” said Katherine Everett, a freshman majoring in communications, when talking about her favorite night of the week: Mondays.

Despite the fact that the legal drinking age is 21, underage students still find ways to purchase alcohol for these specific house parties.

“I’ve heard that people use fake ID’s to get alcohol for the parties and usually the alcohol stores don’t care, as long as you have any form of identification to show, they just want the money,” an anonymous source said.

Nikki Weiss, a freshman currently in the Division of General Studies, discussed how the older you get, the less relevant fraternity parties get.

“Apartment pre-games and bars are much bigger when you are older because everyone is legally allowed in, so that’s why fraternity parties are so big for the freshman,” Weiss said.

For most students, attending the University of Illinois means balancing the night parties with schoolwork. Finding this balance is key to having fun, while still thriving academically at Illinois.

Stephanie Quirk

Stephanie Quirk is a freshman from Western Springs, Illinois majoring in broadcast journalism with a focus in international affairs. She found her love for being on camera through acting on several different shows throughout her high school career including Chicago Fire and Chicago Med. She claims that "Being exposed to news and learning about what is going on throughout the world is something I am extremely passionate about and I am beyond excited to become apart of spreading that through learning at The College of Media." She enjoys watching Family Guy, The Office, Narcos and Homeland in her free time. Her dream is to be apart of creating a documentary someday and to travel the world!